Hadden Sayers Aug. 22 at B Side
Benson Theatre welcomes Texas guitar star Hadden Sayers to The B Side of Benson Theatre Wednesday, Aug. 22, for a solo acoustic show in advance of his September double CD release.
The doors open at 5:30pm, and the show starts at 6:00pm. Tickets are $20 in advance and at the door.
Dopamine Machine, Sayer’s ninth album, is a return to his harder, signature blues-rock style of restraint and fire power, and it escalates the blazing, rocking blues that built his fan base. As he worked with the material, he felt the lyrics of each song had so much to say that the idea of a concurrent release, Acoustic Dopamine, was born. Both drop Sept. 14.
Sayers sat on his bed with a 1954 Gibson acoustic and rearranged the whole electric album as a solo acoustic set. Then he booked the studio for a stripped-down session that presents the songs acoustically with only subtle percussion and the assistance of friend Ruthie Foster on a gorgeous duet for “Waiting Wanting.” Foster and Sayers have a long friendship. He’s the guitarist in her acclaimed band, and she also lent her vocals to his Blues Music Award-nominated song “Back to the Blues.”
As a new father later in life, Sayers just turned 50. He said Dopamine Machine “is more from-the-heart than any of my other releases. It was written and recorded without ANY concern for what genre it may (or may not) fit into. That lack of concern for how I fit into the music world made recording even MORE inspiring than it already is for me….and it shows.”
While Dopamine Machine is for driving down the freeway with the windows down and stereo cranked, Acoustic Dopamine is for traveling alone down a deserted highway with a full moon overhead.
What The Critics Are Saying
Hadden’s got real heart, blues and soul in everything he has to say, whether it’s singing or playing the Texas tradition – and then he takes his sound beyond that.
Ruthie Foster
Hadden is pretty much my hero.
Billy F. Gibbons, ZZ Top
Houston’s best all around rock guitarist.
The Austin Chronicle
Hadden’s playing is lowdown and downright mean. That hat is there to hide his horns.
Rochester City Paper
